Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has stoked MAGA fears of a forever war, declaring that the Iran conflict is just getting started and that the U.S. will take “all the time it needs to succeed.”
In a chest-beating performance filled with football analogies and soaring rhetoric, the former Fox & Friends TV host also warned that “more and larger waves were coming” with looming “death and destruction from the skies all day long.”
But the defense secretary gave only a fleeting reference to the six American soldiers killed so far -- including while attacking the press for the way the war was being reported.
“This is what the fake news misses. We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front page news,” he said, in an apparent reference to the casualties.
“I get it—the press only wants to make the president look bad.”
The comments came as Hegseth gave his second press conference this week to try to explain the administration’s often contradictory rationale for entering another open-ended foreign war—something Donald Trump promised he would not do.
It also came as the Pentagon released the names of four of the six American soldiers killed in the conflict so far: Captain Cody Khork, 35; Sergeant Nicole Amor, 39; Sergeant Declan Coady, 20; and Sergeant Noah Tietjens, 42.
As Americans scramble to get out of the Middle East, Hegseth struck a defiant tone on Wednesday, declaring U.S. forces possessed “an almost unlimited stockpile” of munitions to fight the Iranian regime.
“They are toast and they know it. Or at least soon enough they will know it,” he said.
“We’re playing for keeps,” Hegseth added, without giving a time frame for when America’s involvement might end.
“Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly... Four days in we have only just begun to fight.”
Hegseth, 45, served in the National Guard, reaching the rank of major before leaving active drilling status. He spent almost a decade at Fox, where he was a frequent cheerleader for Trump before the president picked him to be the nation’s defense secretary.
But the conflict could prove damaging for Republicans as the midterm elections loom, with some MAGA figures already up in arms about America’s intervention.
Appearing on Megyn Kelly’s podcast this week, former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out that the U.S. was embroiled in “another f***ing war” and asked the country to have a “serious conversation” about “who in the hell are these decisions being made for.”
Kelly also criticized the conflict, casting doubt on Trump’s claim that Iran’s vast army could lay down its arms.
“Based on what?” she asked.
Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties have publicly questioned the administration’s failure to obtain formal congressional authorization for the operation, which violates the Constitution.
And as tensions escalate in the region, the administration is now scrambling to get people out, although the State Department’s main hotline number has warned Americans that there is no guaranteed travel help available.
“Please do not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation. At this time, there are currently no United States evacuation points,” the State Department’s automated message said when the Daily Beast called on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking alongside Hegseth, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked the press to help the administration evacuate Americans by publicizing the department’s information.
“We’ve also opened up space available, seats, as C17s and other airplanes come in to try to help folks get out,” he said.
Hegseth also declared that the leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate President Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes.
However, he was still unable to give a clear timeline or exit strategy, telling reporters: “The only limits we have is President Trump’s desire to achieve specific effects on behalf of the American people.”
“You can say 4 weeks, but it could be 6, it could be 8, it could be 3,” he said.
